Swirling Tides and Pinwheels
by Tonegawa Rie
Summary: AU. When Hiruzen accidentally says; "You're just like your father," to a quiet, bookworm Naruto, the course of fate changes as Naruto makes different decisions than the one he would in another world... Mind Eye of Kagura! Naruto.
1. Chapter 1: Forest of Death 「死の森 」

_Naruto was reading a book about elemental chakra when the Sandaime commented rather randomly._

 _"You're just like your father."_

 _It was then Naruto promised to himself to never lie to himself._

* * *

Naruto stood impassively with a single kunai in his hand; his face taut and posture slightly tilt to the left.

Ever since Hiruzen jii-san gave him a kunai to train for his third birthday, he always quietly snuck into the village's most dangerous training ground; Training Ground 44, Forest of Death.

It was absolutely the most uncreative and unimaginative name someone must think of in their sleep, but the rumors say it was the training ground where either someone wanted to train to their best ability in surviving or having their death wish what was with the enlarged, poisonous flora and fauna in it.

If someone asked, Naruto had both; so he chose it as his nighttime training playground. Though he knew it wasn't normal for a three-year-old to had a death wish, Naruto was non the wiser as his only companion he had in the village was an old man with a village and a grandson he had to attend himself.

He knew Sarutobi Hiruzen raised him to his best ability, but his best isn't what a three-year-old Uzumaki Naruto needed. Naruto wanted normality. Having parents, friends, homes, the likes. Naruto had once asked what was the meaning of life and the answer given was 'each person has to search it themselves'. That made him downtrodden and quietly asked the old man to kill him because he felt he had no meaning to live as he felt he wasn't normal, the negative treatment from the villagers told him so.

The man's reaction was hilarious that day. Naruto could see that it horrified the old man, as the old man convinced himself into believing it was a mean joke a sarcastic three-year-old kid had pulled to make himself laugh.

Naruto sighed inwardly. Sometimes he thought it was better to lock all the odd and rather bizarre thoughts he had and go being happy all the time with a grin permanently etched on his face, but he didn't have it in himself to pull it off.

As he closed his eyes, Naruto focused on the task of entering the forest.

The forest wasn't guarded, as there was a warning on the gates to enter with caution. Normally, a kid as old as Naruto was told about the forest as a scary bedtime story, but Naruto hadn't had the privilege of it, as the only adult who would warn him was busy with running the village.

The gate to the north was not chained up, he knew. He saw it from his mind eye, Kagura no Shingan, an ability the Sandaime said came from his mother's family. What Naruto had in his disposal was this and a kunai. Naruto had requested to the old man to enter the academy like, ASAP, but the old man was strangely against it. Naruto was quite observant, he knew it was odd for a military dictator such as The Professor, Sarutobi Hiruzen, to deny a willing child wanting to become a shinobi as early as he could possibly. So he compromised by showing that he could defeat a genin by the time he was five and Hiruzen was simply left with no choice as Naruto was not backing up from his plan to enter the academy early.

In his three-year-old life, the man always telling him that he took after his father too much, when he devoured the books, scrolls, and papers that littered around the Hokage Tower like a man on a desert thirsting for water. Naruto itched for knowledge so much, he spent almost every day reading in the library in the Hokage Tower that the old man suspiciously allowed him to enter.

Oh, he still slept, but he always woke up at precisely 1 AM to train his body. Naruto didn't know why, but when he trained his body with the moon above him, he reached his goal in training, faster than you can say 'hiraishin'.

Naruto took a deep breath and jumped inside the forest.

* * *

It was different. Tonight, there was plenty of people inside the forest, including him. Naruto wasn't prepared, as such, he hid and concealed his presence.

Naruto was always good with stealth since the day he knew the word 'prank'. There are always some students in the academy that would set up a prank on the Hokage Tower, and he happened to watch a clumsy and slow and definitely not stealthy at all student, by the name Umino Iruka, who ended up getting a gentle scolding from the Sandaime when he failed the prank spectacularly.

In his opinion, the student should study or train harder than setting up useless pranks. There is no time being a child in the shinobi world, as told by the Nidaime himself in a note he accidentally found wedged between the shelves in the Hokage office.

 _CLANG!_

Naruto froze as he felt the fighting nearby. He didn't know what to do in this kind of situation, but being quiet and observant were recommended, as per the Yondaime said in one of the interviews he read about him.

If _someone_ knew that Naruto luck was off the charts, he would be shipped off to Tsunade in a heartbeat. Naruto picked up the right pieces of information about being a shinobi because he wanted it, if that's not luck, well...

"We will be watching from the dark, Uchiha Shisui... Uchiha Itachi."

Naruto held his breath as he heard the not-ANBU man picked up his fallen teammates, left a few words to a two Uchiha and left with a shunshin. The empty, forceful yet murky chakra signature was gone and Naruto could only hope he would never cross someone with that gross chakra signature ever again.

"Oi, come out."

* * *

Shisui knew someone was watching the entire time he and Itachi fought the Ne members. He didn't demand the person to come out, as the chakra was small yet powerful. He suspected it was a Genin around Itachi's age.

But the person who quite, hesitantly, came out from behind the tree was Sasuke-kun's age.

Shisui narrowed his eyes as he felt Itachi stepped backward, simply shocked that a child around his brother's age was _alone in the forest of death and no one noticed._

"What are you doing here?" While the tone Shisui used was soft, his eyes were the opposite. His eyes' trained at the kid in front of him with intensity.

"Training." The quietly whispered answer was not what Shisui suspected. If the voice wasn't high pitched, he would assume that the kid in front of him was simply a Genin with short stature, but the voice said otherwise.

Itachi shuffled beside him and stated, "You have no hitai-ate."

The kid in front of them rolled his eyes and twirled the kunai, _sharp pointy and big one at that,_ and said, "Duh."

Wow, the nerve of that kid. Sasuke-kun didn't stand a chance against him, this kid was awesome for being so sarcastic... for a kid, that is.

Shisui sighed as he offered a smile, "What's your name?"

The kid eyes' narrowed as he titled his head.

"Naruto. Uzumaki Naruto."

Shisui now knew who exactly the kid in front of him was.

"I'm Uchiha Shisui," he looked to Itachi and when he noticed Itachi was busy staring at Naruto, he gestured to Itachi as he introduced his friend, "and this is Uchiha Itachi. Now, would you come with us?"

Of course, the kid would deny as the kid's glanced to his behind. Any kid with common sense would.

"I'm not yet done with training, Shisui-san," with a quick salute, Naruto ran as fast as his legs could.

Shisui mussed his hair as he glanced at Itachi, "You stay here, I'm going to chase that kid," when Itachi was about to protest, Shisui shook his head.

"You sprained your ankle, right? Now, stay here."

* * *

Itachi was not happy when Shisui decided to left him behind to chase the kid who was supposedly the Kyuubi Jinchuuriki, who was even younger than Sasuke if his memory was correct.

He puffed his cheeks. Promptly, he winced when he unconsciously put his weight on the sprained ankle.

Seems he had to wait here after all.

* * *

While knowing running away from an Uchiha was a vain attempt (as the Nidaime put it, they would chase someone for hours if determined), Naruto still did it to get a better training than to kill large animals; running away from an experienced shinobi. Uchiha Shisui was not unknown to him, as he always in the proximity of the Sandaime, as such he knew some new Genin, old Jōnin, eternal Chūnin, you name it.

Uchiha Shisui was a rising chūnin, and he already made a name himself; Shunshin no Shisui. Astounding, yet expected as he was an Uchiha.

"Wait!"

It was not even a whole minute, and he was already nearing. Naruto was using chakra to keep the speed he currently using, so... shunshin then?

Naruto wished he knew how to perform the jutsu, but he was still a three year old... who was already brave enough to sneak into the forest of death in the middle of the night... practically every day... and no one stopped him from pulling this stupid action...

He had the hunch that the Sandaime knew about it.

"I told you to wait, didn't I?"

Naruto was, to put it into a word, humiliated. He was lifted like a toddler by the taller and older kid in front of him.

"Let go."

Shisui grinned, easily made Naruto squirm in his grasp, "No can do. I have to know why a kid not even in the academy is alone, _training_ you might say, in this forest."

Naruto grumbled.

Oh well, he knew he would someday be caught in his act.


	2. Chapter 2: Brilliant 「優秀」

_Shisui remarked with a smile, "You are brilliant, after all."_

 _Itachi ate the fish in his hand quietly, his mind in different place, but his heart was not here. If he had to pinpoint where it was like..._

 _... nowhere at all._

 _Itachi didn't know how to deal with this situation, and so he lied and lied until he believed it himself._

 _It worked._

 _No matter what happens in the future, he will be fine._

 _He was just not comfortable being at home at the moment._

* * *

Brilliant. Superior. Talented. Genius.

Itachi hated being called those things. He was none of the above, he was sure of that. But Itachi knew he wasn't like his peers. He was... simply different, that's all. He acknowledged that; he wasn't an idiot after all.

("You are good at lying to yourself," Shisui said to him. He inwardly agreed.)

"Nii-san!"

Itachi looked up, Sasuke was in front of him, frowning cutely with his lips puckered outwards.

"What is it, Sasuke?" Itachi put the scroll he had stared at for minutes before Sasuke asked for his attention.

"Shisui-san's here." the contempt in Sasuke's voice was not left unnoticed, as Itachi chuckled lightly; amused at Sasuke's attitude towards Shisui. He had asked Shisui a few times to drag him from home, and Shisui had to make it like he stole Sasuke's brother away for a while. That made Sasuke resent the older boy... by a little, he hoped.

"Sasuke, be good to Mother, alright?"

Today's training session was going to be different, he felt it in his bones.

* * *

Shisui wanted peace; contrary to him already decimated more than a thousand of shinobi in the course of his 5 years of serving the village as a shinobi.

When the Kyuubi attacked the village three years ago, Shisui was a freshly made chūnin. No matter how badly he wanted to help, all shinobi under the age of twenty was all trapped behind a barrier willingly or unwillingly; in Shisui's case, he was unwilling. He badly wanted to fight, to defend his home, but the barrier... he knew from then on to study fuuinjutsu; in case something like that happened again.

Last night, he met the container of Kyuubi, in the Forest of Death. A three-year-old Jinchuuriki by the name of Uzumaki Naruto. It was absurd, even for him, who effectively fought in the third war when he was just six years old, armed only with the basic three academy jutsu.

 _"It's dangerous to enter this forest without supervision." Shisui never scolded someone, though he understood why Naruto wanted to train, it didn't mean it was the right thing to do to train alone at night in the Forest of Death. "Do you understand that you could get killed here? You're not even in the academy, I would assume no one even trained you yet."_

 _"Train me, then!"_ _Naruto jutted his lips stubbornly, "I have to prove someone, I can't back down from this!"_

Shisui huffed exasperatedly when he remembered the kid demanding him to be trained. Naruto was a cute kid, just like Sasuke-kun, but a tad more... serious, if he had to categorize it. Maybe that was why he agreed to accompany the kid with his training?

"Shisui-san."

"Ah, you're here," Shisui looked down at an out-of-breath Naruto, "now, we have to wait for Itachi."

Naruto furrowed his eyebrows, "I thought Itachi-san was here?"

Shisui was surprised by the question; but nonetheless, he answered.

"Itachi wanted to buy dango first," Shisui coughed into his fist to smother a laugh, "honestly, it's funny for a boy as serious as he is to be addicted to it."

Naruto looked like he didn't get it, but he shrugged, "Dango sounds delicious, so it's no wonder."

That... sounded like Naruto never had eaten dango. He didn't mishear it, wasn't he?

"You never have dango?" Shisui asked though he had the feeling the answer would be a 'no'.

Naruto nodded, "Jii-san never bought it so..." unknown to everyone but to a select few, Sarutobi Hiruzen never ate dango because... Shimura Danzō disliked warabi mochi. Though almost an unrelated food, dango, and mochi had almost the same texture...

(Uchiha Kagami once commented it was ridiculous, but he died before he could convince Hiruzen to at least try dango once).

That was... not good. Even if Shisui wasn't a fan of dango, no one should live for three years and never had dango. Heck, his first dango was when he was two years old and he loved it back then. If only he didn't try shōyu ramen right after that, he might get addicted to it.

"Kid, you're missing out a big time...," Shisui shook his head. What would Itachi say if he knew this? Blasphemy? Yeah, that. "Itachi might give you one stick if you say that you never have one."

Is dango that good? Naruto had had no idea at all. "Okay?"

And that was the day Naruto found he liked dango... especially hanami dango. Almost at the same level as red-bean soup, he liked so much.

* * *

Hiruzen watched his almost-grandson through his crystal ball; his mind on the verge of breaking.

It was a peculiar sight as Uzumaki Naruto, his successor's son, was sparring with two Uchiha and actually held off quite good for his age to face a trained genin and chūnin.

That had to be a mistake. This crystal ball clearly was broken.

Mito-sama was quite a prankster back when Hashirama-sama was alive, after all.

( _The sight of Naruto eating dango was also a prank_ , Hiruzen nodded to himself).

(Seems like Hiruzen and Itachi had one thing in common; they're good at lying to themselves).

* * *

Itachi loves his brother to the point that it almost like an obsession from an outsider's perspective. It doesn't mean he would train with his brother like he would with Shisui and Naruto.

"Oh, come on, you guys must be holding back!"

Well... that was an understatement. Shisui clearly held back by quite a large margin, and he himself also was holding back... only a bit though, that showed with how he quickly defeated the boy within a few seconds.

"But you're good for your age, Naruto," unlike with Sasuke, Shisui never attempted to attach -kun to Naruto's name. Itachi didn't know why, but he didn't ask; maybe Shisui treated Naruto like he treated Sasuke? "You just have to accept there will always be someone better than you."

"I know that. I mean, I wanted to fight you guys at your best..." Naruto sighed. "I'm sorry."

Shisui chuckled lightly, "Don't apologize, it's not something you should apologize for. Now, how about I teach you how to throw shuriken?"

They spent the rest of the day training until their bodies collapsed to the ground.

(Meanwhile, Shisui plotted- he meant, planned to introduce the art of sealing to the only Uzumaki he knew, namely Naruto. He needed someone to bounce sealing ideas with, and while Itachi _is_ talented at practically everything, Uzumaki famous expertise is fuuinjutsu, so Naruto must know the art, dammit.)

* * *

It was like a routine now. Shisui didn't know since when he thought it was great to train with a pint-sized brat that isn't an Uchiha. He trained with Itachi simply because Fugaku-san assigned him to it; if the result of it being him liking Itachi enough to put Itachi's wellbeing first and then the assignment second, it wasn't anybody's business.

He wasn't ordered or requested to watch over or train or even tolerating Uzumaki Naruto. Yet, here he was, running together with the brat for an early morning training. It didn't help Naruto was the spitting image of his not-so-secret idol, Namikaze Minato or the Yondaime Hokage.

Okay, so Shisui _could_ see why the Yondaime chose Naruto to contain the Kyuubi. He _is_ Yondaime's son and an Uzumaki after all.

An Uchiha befriended an Uzumaki with the Kyuubi in his gut? Fate has a strange way to bond people, it seems.


End file.
